Spooky horse driving me mad

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rachm12

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I have a lovely Welsh Sec D who I've had for nearly two years. When I got him he was extremely green and spooked just about every stride. It took months of constant hacking just to get him to be forward without spooking all the time. It took a long time to develop trot and canter because of it. I recently moved him yard (end of April) and I would say he has settled fairly well but it seems we have taken a million steps back recently and is now a nightmare to ride and just constantly spooks at anything and everything. The most annoying thing is he spooks at stuff around the yard that he sees every single day (gates, rocks, trees, fence posts). As you can imagine it is now driving me crazy. Is there anyway I can break the spooking or is it a case of working through it like I did in the beginning? Could it be down to his new surroundings even though he settled really well initially? Any suggestions would be great!
 
I've put my horse on Equinox and it's made a massive difference, I also know a few others it's worked for, I also know people it's not worked for. I rate it highly my horse is so much more chilled on it. I took him off it and he became a nightmare again, back on it and he's a lot better again. It won't eliminate everything but it defo helps mine deal with things in a less dramatic fashion.
 
What are you feeding him on? That can make a huge difference, forage as well as hard feed. It could be the grass is richer at your new yard. Definitely worth feeding a balancer, I use Alltech Lifeforce which I swear by.

The best piece of kit I ever bought was a neck strap. It increases my confidence which in turn increases my horses confidence. I'd recommend them to anyone, I now regularly hack my horse out on his own which I couldn't do before.
 
What type of spooking is it?

Spook and run?
Snort and then be difficult?
Or jolt and continue what your doing?

Mine is Welsh X Hackney and does the spook, jolt, carry on. I just laugh now. Or if it's something actually spooky she is encouraged to check it out. I have never felt unsafe with her spooking though and do have a very relaxed attitude forwards it.
 
I had this exact same problem with my Sec D. This is the solution and if I sway from this routine, god don't I know about it! Take him off all hard feed and feed only grass and hay. Then add in Thunderbrooks hay cobs, (literally hay but in a pellet) and put him on H29 from Trinity consultants. It is a potassium/magnesium supplement with vitamin E. Vitamin E is hugely important for the nervous system and horses need to graze on lush grass for six hours a day to obtain enough of it, which, of course we can't do especially for a Sec D who I am guessing is probably on restricted hay/grass, as mine is. Vitamin E is your friend but not one of the crappy supplements they sell in the tack shops. Magnesium is also the generic calmer but only if the horse is lacking in it to begin with. The potassium is important as without it the magnesium cannot be up taken by the body anyway, you can't have mag without potassium which many of the 'calmers' do. My D is like a different horse on this but previously used to display the EXACT same symptoms you are describing!
 
Toffee44 said:
What type of spooking is it?

Spook and run?
Snort and then be difficult?
Or jolt and continue what your doing?

Mine is Welsh X Hackney and does the spook, jolt, carry on. I just laugh now. Or if it's something actually spooky she is encouraged to check it out. I have never felt unsafe with her spooking though and do have a very relaxed attitude forwards it.
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It's usually the spook, jolt and carry on. Sometimes a spin. If it's something genuinely scary then yes he's encouraged to check it out. It's the spooking at the same things everyday that he has been past a loads of times that's driving me mad.
 
JennBags said:
What are you feeding him on? That can make a huge difference, forage as well as hard feed. It could be the grass is richer at your new yard. Definitely worth feeding a balancer, I use Alltech Lifeforce which I swear by.

The best piece of kit I ever bought was a neck strap. It increases my confidence which in turn increases my horses confidence. I'd recommend them to anyone, I now regularly hack my horse out on his own which I couldn't do before.
Click to expand...

He's gets no hard feed at all at the moment due to the grass. And I have a martingale on him so a neck strap is to hand.
 
Get groundwork done. I had a brief fling with a friesian for two months who was like this and she got better with ground work but eventually I felt I didn't have the experience for it.

As for making them check out something scary - I always used to do this. But why? They're flight animals - they will not be calm and thinking "oh this is not scary actually" if they are already in high alert. I would push on past and not make a big deal about things. That way he will learn to ignore things more and look forwards. Every time he stops and is made to look at it he's probably thinking this is awful I hate this brick on the floor I'm terrified
 
I have a sec D who is 10, I have had him since a 2 year old. He seems to have grown up a lot in recent years, barely any strops or tantrums. He's always been spooky though and difficult, fine with traffic but always seeing "monsters".

The more you do the better they get, they are very intelligent creatures (usually too much for their own good) and if you are at a new yard he won't "know" the routes. I would set him up to suceed, either lead him in hand on a new route or ride with a friend, that should improve his confidence and then you can ride it alone. I've never had any sucess with calmers, i've tried magic and pure magnesium, i've also used confidenceEQ for loading but never for riding - even if it did make a difference I couldn't afford that every ride! I'm afraid this is a trait of the breed you own and although can be managed probably will never be cured :)
 
Welcome to the spooky section D owners club !
Mine has driven me mad at times. Spooks at things like E on the school.Rode small circles at it, thought it was better. Next day just as bad !
Be very careful what you feed . Always give them something to think about when you are riding. Try a calmer, some help but some make them worse.
I seriously think Section D's have some sort of miswiring between eye and brain.
Love mine but would never have another.
 
JennBags said:
The best piece of kit I ever bought was a neck strap. It increases my confidence which in turn increases my horses confidence. I'd recommend them to anyone, I now regularly hack my horse out on his own which I couldn't do before.
Click to expand...

This for me too with many jingly jangly bells on; I love my neck strap/grab strap x
 
concorde said:
Welcome to the spooky section D owners club !
Mine has driven me mad at times. Spooks at things like E on the school.Rode small circles at it, thought it was better. Next day just as bad !
Be very careful what you feed . Always give them something to think about when you are riding. Try a calmer, some help but some make them worse.
I seriously think Section D's have some sort of miswiring between eye and brain.
Love mine but would never have another.
Click to expand...

I've had mine for ten years, I also love the bones of him but would never entertain another Sec D!
 
Haha - your problem is right at the start of your post - you've got a Sec D. I'm afraid this is par for the course and many of them are like this, and you either learn to love it or you sell them. Mine spooked (and I mean properly spooked) at his own tail when it got too long, his own sneezes, his front hooves, the sound he made biting into an apple, his headcollar (and don't even get me started on what happened when I used a different coloured headcollar) - they aren't right in the head. Honestly. And yes, they'll just keep doing it every single day :-). FUN.

Get a neck strap and learn to breathe deeply and laugh about it. You won't get anywhere by 'making' him go nearer it every time, you're best off finding something he enjoys (endurance and fun rides for mine) and doing a lot of it, and the work and fun will counter the ridiculous spooking and he will improve in time. I know it sounds silly but don't make an issue of it, just ignore the problem and it will go away. If only all problems were like that!

For things that are a real issue, I found clicker training immensely helpful with mine.
 
p.s. I also had no joy with calmers, but I did notice he was markedly worse in spring/summer (we could do trotting poles in winter without freaking out :-D - in summer ended up just giving up on this, the shadows cause too much drama!!!!!) so i think the sugar was a major cause for him. Therefore, hard work and restricting grazing in some way may help you.
 
rachm12 said:
I have a lovely Welsh Sec D who I've had for nearly two years. When I got him he was extremely green and spooked just about every stride. It took months of constant hacking just to get him to be forward without spooking all the time. It took a long time to develop trot and canter because of it. I recently moved him yard (end of April) and I would say he has settled fairly well but it seems we have taken a million steps back recently and is now a nightmare to ride and just constantly spooks at anything and everything. The most annoying thing is he spooks at stuff around the yard that he sees every single day (gates, rocks, trees, fence posts). As you can imagine it is now driving me crazy. Is there anyway I can break the spooking or is it a case of working through it like I did in the beginning? Could it be down to his new surroundings even though he settled really well initially? Any suggestions would be great!
Click to expand...

My horse who is 19 is exactly the same. In fact if anything and I mean ANYTHING is in the slightest bit different in his surroundings he notices immediately (even before I have). To walk past the same filler in the ménage for weeks on end and then the very next day spook at it because someone had used it and not put the same pattern facing outwards but the reverse pattern instead is unbelievable - he noticed and nearly had me on the floor.

His spooking reached epic proportions earlier in the year but I found out he was having barley water in his feeds (run off from the boiled barley given to the hunters) and this sent him over the edge. After paying a small fortune to have the vet out to have his eyes, back, legs and teeth checked to see if there was any reason for his spookiness and going on a two week bute trial to rule out pain - it turned out its just him! LAst night I took him to the local riding club to have a group lesson (our first one for about ten years!) and he spooked at things in the arena none of the other horses even bothered looking at!

He is on Magic and it has made an immense difference to his spooks, he de escalates so much quicker from the spooks that he did do before he was on it and I've taken him off twice now just to see if it made a difference and after a few days he reverted back to his previous behavior. Some horses are just more spooky than others. I think these are the ones that would outlive the rest of the herd from predators in a natural environment in the wild!

In the past I've tried reasoning with him, and taking him to show the object, ten minutes later he will spook at it again after calmly accepting it ten minutes before! I've tried smacking him with my whip, and showing my annoyance but he takes no notice! It is frustrating but its something I've come to terms with, and he wouldn't be Bailey unless he snorted at everything in sight! lol
 
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As others have said. He's a D, that's the reason for it. Mine was safe as houses and I trusted him with my life but he would jump at the slightest thing. He'd lived in the area all his life and anything new like a new bin outside the local shop or a new bench on the common really got him. My favourite was a house we used to pass. While it was being built, he paid no attention to the scaffolding, cement mixers, lorries making deliveries men in hard hats. When it was finished and all that went, we spent 6 months going past it sideways, snorting! I found the best thing to do was to completely ignore it.

Embrace it, laugh at it and get on with it because I strongly doubt he'll ever change. Mine died at 27 and was just as daft then as he was when I got him at 13......sorry!
 
Yes , I should have added I have had mine 20 years and he is still as spooky as when I got him.
He can still teleport sideways at great speed.... Last time it was because someone had changed the distance between the trotting poles on the school.
I tend to deal with it by saying WELSH IDIOT and carrying on.
Must admit I have had tears of frustration over the years.
 
It's definitely a Welsh thing! I've had my section D for 10 years and he's still the same. He does a fab impression of a Welsh dragon! You can guarantee that whilst everyone else on the yard goes for a nice relaxing hack, my horse is dancing around the place like his tail is on fire. He gets better with consistent work, but I just have to accept that it's just who he is. He's fairly chilled in company and doesn't bat an eyelid at cars, lorries or buses but god forbid if he spots his own shadow! He's just Welsh, that's all there is to say!
 
Love a Welsh but there is nothing quiet about them. They are big presence horses with lots of brain power who sometimes find the stop sign on the road a massive omen.

I have had:
Welsh X TB she was the worst could do 180degrees and go home unless I could put us in a hedge.

Welsh X Connemara-amazing mix spooky but clever and not dangerous.

Welsh X Hackney- love her would have another

Rode a Welsh X Dutch WB- amazing in school but couldn't handle hacking


Sambas best spook recently was when I opened the gate on yard riding in, spooked at gate in the hedge, even though she just watched it open!!
 
My Welsh D spooks at many things. He does not mind cars, lorries, motorbikes and trains. He isn't sure about tractors but meltdowns are occasional (and are of course reserved for when we are out hunting for maximum embarrassment value!) He mostly doesn't mind bikes apart from when he does. He definitely does not like manhole covers or painted bits of road. He also dislikes anything making noise behind a hedge that he can't see in case it wants to eat him. Cows are the devil but goats, sheep and donkeys are ok.

He has gotten a lot better in the three and a half years I've owned him I think just due to repeated exposure to a variety of daft things (he has accepted that I'm a lunatic and we do crazy things and nobody dies). Did have a moment yesterday though when he was going backwards rather than the sideways that had been asked for, managed somehow to step on the foot of a jump wing (god only knows how), whack himself on the arse with it and have a complete and total meltdown to the point I decided to bail before he threw me off / came over on top of me. (He then freaked at me getting off and legged it... nice to know that in the case of monster attack he will happily leave me to die!)
 
Thanks for all your comments. I was having a bit a of meltdown myself the other day when I posted this but hey we all have bad days! I knew they were known for being spooky and I don't ever feel unsafe on him and he's is a great little horse even if he makes the rules when it suits him. I suppose I was just after reassurance (and your comments have given me a bit of a reality check)! Time to embrace it, laugh it off and carry on :)

P.s Boulty your comment made me giggle! I've been in many a similar situation!
 
We have one here. I can drag lead ropes, coats, etc. over him, then he spooks at something silly.

Putting the lunging roller on the other day he suddenly spooked. My helper said a fly landed on his side next to the roller. I'm serious and believe her. He is just expecting something nasty top happen so invents something to spook at -- then does.

I really don't know if there is a cure. It is sometimes like a wild animal.
 
Watching with interest. My new horse is a 5 yr old 1/2 Arab. I have found him to be very spooky both in hand & ridden. He either does a little side step spook which isn't a problem or he whips round which is a problem. He is in medium work 4-5 days a week & is out days, in at night with ad lib haylage. Hard feed is TopSpec - 1lb cool balancer, 1lb ulsakind, 1/2 lb lite chop with TopSpec calmer. This is split into 2 feeds daily. Helpful ideas welcomed.
 
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